Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday denounced as a "fifth column" thousands of Palestinian citizens of Israel who joined a demonstration calling for the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

Around 10,000 protesters, many waving Palestinian flags, joined a rally in northern Israel on Tuesday to remember 530 villages from which some 760,000 people fled or were expelled following the creation of Israel in 1948.

The rally took place as Israel marked its 66th Independence Day, with Lieberman accusing the demonstrators of being traitors.

"Those who marched with flags of the Palestinian Authority demanding that it not give up on the right of return, are a fifth column whose aim is the destruction of Israel," he told army radio.

He also addressed the demonstration on his Facebook page on Tuesday.

"To those Arabs that took part today in the 'Nakba Day' procession and waved Palestinian flags, I suggest that next time they march directly to Ramallah and they stay there," he wrote.

But he acknowledged that those who joined the Nakba demonstration were only "a minority" among Israel's Palestinian minority, who make up just over a fifth of the overall population of 8.2 million.

At the rally, which took place in a small village in northern Israel, the protester marched under the slogan: "Your 'independence' day is our Nakba" - the Arabic for catastrophe.

More than 760,000 Palestinians fled or were driven out of their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948. Today, with their descendants, they number an estimated 4.8 million.

Lieberman, a hardliner within the ruling right-wing coalition, is an open proponent of the concept of "transfer" -- transferring densely-populated Palestinian areas in Israel to the control of the PA in any future peace deal.

Some 10,000 Palestinian residents of Israel rallied in the north on Tuesday to demand the right of return for refugees expelled after the creation of the Israeli state in 1948.

The demonstration took place in the Israeli village of Lavi, which was built on the ruins of the Palestinian village of Lubya.

Lubya was home to 2,726 Palestinians until 1948, when Jewish mobs captured the village during the Arab-Israeli conflict that led to Israel's creation.

Demonstrators waved Palestinian flags and read out the names of 530 Palestinian villages that were emptied 66 years ago, before observing a minute's silence in their memory.

"A demonstration organized by Israeli Arab associations gathered about 10,000 people and two youths were arrested for violence against the police," Israeli police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.

Groups demanding the right of return for Palestinians expelled from their homes in 1948 organized the event under the slogan: "Your 'independence' day is our 'Nakba'," Arabic for catastrophe.

"There will be no peace, no stability and no reconciliation without the refugees' right of return," lawmaker Mohammad Barakei told AFP.

More than 760,000 Palestinians -- estimated today to number 4.8 million with their descendants -- fled or were driven from their homes in 1948.

Palestinians mark Nakba day on May 15, but Palestinian citizens of Israel hold demonstrations on Israeli independence day, which fell on Tuesday this year.

The Palestinian population of Israel is made up of around 1.3 million people, some 20 percent of Israel's population.

Most of Lubya's original inhabitants settled in the Yarmouk refugee camp in the suburbs of Damascus.

In Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, police dispersed a demonstration by Jewish extremists, who marched through the streets of the Old City chanting anti-Arab slogans, the police spokeswoman said.

Police arrested two of the demonstrators who tried to force their way past a checkpoint, she added.

Thousands of Palestinians in 1948 land take part in 7th return marchThousands of Palestinians of the 1948 occupied land participated in the 7th return march to villages and towns from which Palestinians were expelled at gunpoint by Zionist gangs in 1948. Participants hoisted Palestinian flags and names of villages and towns that were destroyed by the Zionist gangs after their occupation of Palestine in 1948. The marchers headed to Lubya village, Tiberias province, afternoon Tuesday at the invitation of the society for the defense of Palestinians forced out of their hometowns under the slogan “Their Independence, Our Nakba”. Head of the society Wakim Wakim, a lawyer, said that the demonstrators were protesting not only the past history but also the current Israeli systematic policy of “forced emigration of our people in the Negev, Akka, and other areas.” He said that the demonstrators were also protesting the Israeli policy of demolishing Palestinian homes and Israel’s disregard to what its hooligans are doing against Islamic and Christian sanctities.

The information office of Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, has released a song in Hebrew that satirically simulates Israel's national anthem "The Hope" and contains a message to the Zionist Jews. "The End of the Hope" is Israel's new anthem and a gift for its Jewish settlers on the occasion of their so-called independence day (the occupation of Palestine), according to Al-Qassam Brigades of Hamas.

One of the makers of this video clip told Al-Qassam Brigades website that the song contained a message to the Jewish masses in occupied Palestine that the Palestinian people will never forget their land or be terrorized by the Israeli army.

"The anthem sends a message to the Zionists that the hope they are living for has been dissipated by the resistance fighters and that their entity will disappear soon," he said.

He noted that the song was inspired by Israel's national anthem and its words were cleverly drafted in a way that strikes the Zionist ideology and the Jews' dream.

Thousands of Palestinians from pre-1948 Palestine are expected to participate in "returning march" to the displaced Lubya village west of Tiberias in Galilee to commemorate Nakba 66th anniversary. The Participants gathered Tuesday morning at the entrance of the village raising slogans that affirmed the right of return for all Palestinian refugees. "Hundreds of Palestinian youths existed since last night in the village to prepare for the reception of the huge march;

Map of the area from the 1870sI expect that more than 20,000 Palestinians will participate," Suliam Fahmawi, member of a association defends Palestinians right of return said.

Fahmawi added that they organized other activities in the march including speeches for the original residents of the village in addition to officials from refugee department in the Palestinians Liberation Organization (PLO).

Lubya, was a Palestinian Arab vihage located ten kilometers west of Tiberias that was captured and destroyed by Israel during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War.

As Israelis commemorated 'Memorial Day' on Monday, and began a series of events to lead up to 'Independence Day' on May 15th, one Israeli group launched a smartphone app called 'iNakba' to allow users to find the locations of Palestinian villages that were destroyed or expropriated during the creation of the state of Israel in 1948.

Palestinians mark the day of Israel's independence as the Nakba
(Catastrophe), the day they were stripped of their land and rights, and
became the world's largest refugee population.

In the new app, the Israeli group Zochrot includes an interactive map
and photos of the towns and villages that were destroyed by the
newly-formed Israeli forces and militia groups in 1948.

According to Zochrot, “Nakba is an Arabic word that means “catastrophe.”
The Nakba was the destruction, expulsion, looting, massacres and
incidents of rape of the Palestinian inhabitants of this country. It was
keeping refugees out by force at the end of the war, in order to
establish the Jewish state. And it is the ongoing destruction of
Palestinian localities, the disregard for the rights of refugees and
displaced people, and the prohibition against teaching and commemorating
the Nakba in schools and civic groups.”

Raneen Jeries, who
works with Zochrot, said to AFP reporters, “Many Palestinians have
difficulty locating their home towns and villages [inside what is now
Israel], because cities or Jewish settlements have been built on top of
them.

There's a file on each of hundreds of Palestinian villages or cities, and you can find information and see old and new user-uploaded photos about the locality.”

Jeries added that people who live near the ruins of the villages inside what is now Israel can add their own photos and updates, so “Refugees living in Lebanon, for example, can follow their village and each time someone uploads a photo of it or writes a comment, they'll see an update.”

Zochrot works to “challenge the Israeli Jewish public's preconceptions and promote awareness, political and cultural change within it to create the conditions for the Return of Palestinian Refugees and a shared life in this country.”

With the iNakba app, the group hopes to increase awareness of the villages and towns that were depopulated for the creation of the state of Israel on Palestinian land seized by force in 1948. The app is available in Arabic, English and Hebrew.

Israel Cries holocaust in Vienna While Still Denying the Palestinian Nakba – The zionist state of israel, which criminalizes commemoration of the Nakba and denies the Palestinian Arab minority’s right to free speech and equality with regard to the historical memory of the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe in 1948, is still crying the holocaust in Vienna.On March 22 2011, israeli knesset or “parliament” passed the so-called “Al-Nakba Law” which calls on the government to deny funding to any organization, institution or university, educational institution, municipality in israel that commemorates the ethnic cleansing of historic Palestine during and before the establishment of the so-called “state of israel” in 1947-48. The Palestinian Nakba (Catastrophe) is a term used to describe the suffering of Palestinians and the ethnic cleansing which was perpetrated against hundreds of thousands, who were expelled from their homes by the jewish invaders in 1948. The “Nakba Law” infringes on the Palestinian Arab minority’s right to free speech and equality with regard to its historical memory. This zionist law also suppresses the memory of the Palestinian people and punishes their feelings. This past weekend Shimon Peres, the head of the israeli occupation, the so-called “state of israel”, arrived in Vienna where the negotiations on the Iranian nuclear facilities are taking place since two months. Here he cried holocaust at the Judenplatz (jews’ square) in the city in order to dictate the terms of israel regarding the Iranian nuclear facilities on the IAEA and the security organizations in Austria while obstructing of the efforts of ongoing negotiations between Iran and the six countries.Peres Prays in Vienna Under Watch of his Bodyguards Peres arrived at the jews’ square or “Judenplatz” in the city centre under tight security measures in which Austrian police helicopters flew at a low altitude, special forces of the police occupied a number of surrounding buildings balconies, windows and rooftops, and some coffee houses were forced to close their doors for clients. The old man, who looked weak and unhealthy, was forced to lean on his bodyguard instead of a stick, was wearing a small black hat (“Kippa”) and surrounded by dozens of security people when he arrived at the “Judenplatz” where Austrian President Dr. Heinz Fischer and the ministers of Defence and Foreign Affairs, as well as a few dozens members of the jewish community in Vienna were present, among them chief Rabbi Paul Chaim Eisenberg and the current and former presidents of the jewish community awaited for Peres to participate in a ceremony of “Shoah” for the Austrian victims of the holocaust. During the ceremony President Fischer and his guest President Peres laid a wreath for the country’s holocaust victims, delivered speeches and held a joint prayer. President Fischer said that the jews’ space reflects a particularly tragic part of Austrian history and that the Judenplatz witnessed a dark chapter in Austria’s history. He added: “we must confess that the way Austria dealt with the Nazi period was followed by a harsh silence for a long time. In the past twenty five years, Austria underwent a deep process in historic awareness of the holocaust. He criticized Austria’s dealing with National Socialism and acknowledged that Austria today accepts common responsibility for Nazi crimes.For his part, Mr. old man Peres, cried in his speech for the victims of the Holocaust in front of the audience so as to charge the feelings of those present and so guarantee the kindness of others. I was moved by the speech of the old President Peres and I felt the size of the horrific pain left by the Europeans to the jews. I thanked God that the Palestinians were not together with the Europeans perpetrators of the Holocaust, despite my painful feeling as a Palestinian for our tragic history, for all the massacres and the ethnic cleansing which were perpetrated against us by gangs of European jews like Palmach, Irgun and Hagana in Palestine, before and after 1948. I felt proud to the Republic of Austria after I listened to the speech of President Fischer, who spoke boldly about the tragedy of the Holocaust that took place in Austria and apologized for this to the Jews.I wondered why Mr. Peres, the president of israel and his “state” do not follow the recognition of the Austrian republic, which apologized hundred million time to Israel and recognize the Palestinian Nakba and all the wrongs that he and the other the jewish terrorist invaders visited upon us Palestinians, the people of that time who were murdered, subject to ethnic cleansing and expelled from our homeland as well as upon later generations, who are to this day victims of a process of slow genocide by the israel of which Peres is a President??

Certainly, there is a vast difference between Austrian President, who spoke freely about the the Austrian responsibility for its history, and the head of jewish “state of Israel”, who together with his country does not recognize the Palestinian Nakba and suffering which since decades he and his “state” inflict upon us, while his “state” went so far to pass in March of 2011 the so-called “Nakba law” which criminalizes Palestinians who want to express their feeling and sorrows and commemorate the Nakba and their history, all so that Peres and many other jews can avoid being confronted with their own crimes and their historic guilt.Adalah: Nakba Law Violates Rights of Arab Minority to Preserve its History and Culture The Knesset enacted the Nakba Law (PDF) on 22 March 2011. The law authorizes the Minister of Finance to reduce funding or support provided by the state to an institution if it holds an activity that contradicts the definition of the State of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state, or that commemorates “Israel’s Independence Day or the day on which the state was established as a day of mourning.” In Adalah’s view, the Nakba Law is another link in a chain of racist laws that target Arab citizens of Israel, violate their rights, and restrict their freedom to express their opinion. The law will also cause substantial harm to cultural and educational institutions and further entrench discrimination against Arab citizens. Adalah previously sent an urgent letter (Letter as PDF) to the Chair of the Knesset’s Constitution, Law and Justice Committee, MK David Rotem, requesting that the Committee reject the legislation. In the letter, Adalah Attorneys Orna Kohn and Sawsan Zaher argued that the law threatened to cut funding to many institutions, including educational and cultural organizations, thereby compromising their ability to provide important services to the public. These funding cuts are tantamount to the collective punishment of the public that receives these services, despite the fact that such persons are unable to intervene in the decisions of these institutions over whether to conduct a certain activity or not. Adalah stressed in the letter that the law stood to cause major harm to the principle of equality and to the rights of Arab citizens to preserve their history and culture. The law deprives Arab citizens of their right to commemorate the Nabka, which is an integral part of their history. It also grossly violates the right to freedom of expression, a fundamental constitutional right. It may be applied to an institution simply because it held a seminar or study day on a political issue that addresses the definition of the state, or that discusses the future vision of Arab citizens, for example, or a cultural organization that screened a film or held a play that discusses the Nakba. According to the law, such activities are viewed as a threat to the existence of the State of Israel as a “Jewish and democratic” state. Adalah further emphasized in the letter Israel is a signatory to all international human rights conventions, according to which the state should undertake, inter alia, to preserve and protect the unique culture and history of the Arab national minority. This legislation does just the opposite: the purpose of the law is to prevent members of the Arab minority in Israel from exercising their democratic right to commemorate a seminal event in their history.

I was video chatting with my family back in Beit Sahour, in the West Bank district of Bethlehem, chatting with my mother and family members back there, despite the 10-hour time difference, we try to do that whenever we can.

My mom sounded happy about something, of course, I felt happy for her happiness, after all she is my mother, who gave birth to me and, along with my father, raised me and my three brothers, and always put us first.

Mariam, my mother was carrying a copy of the Al-Quds daily Newspaper, my father Naji standing next to her, and she showed me a feature story about the destroyed Palestinian village of Al-Khairiyya in the Jaffa district, one of hundreds of villages and towns destroyed and depopulated by Zionists in 1948.

“I was only five years old when they came into our village and forced us out, we lost our home and land, our life where my late father worked”, she said, “We went to ‘Aboud village, near Ramallah, but the village was so small, people unable to find work to feed their families”.

“We then left ‘Aboud heading to Jordan where I lived with my family there from 1949 – 1967, my father died when I was young”, Mariam added, “On February 25 1968 I got married to your father, and came to live with him in Beit Sahour, and here I am”.

“In 1963 I studied to be a nurse and became a midwife, I used to be fluent in English, I later learnt French, and spoke some Russian”, she said, “I am from Jaffa, but I cannot go there any more, they [Israeli soldiers] destroyed our village, our home and displaced us to create their state”.

“When I saw the article about my village, my destroyed and depopulated village, I felt happy to hear about the forgotten village, but very sad for what happened to it, for the displacement and destruction they did, for my expulsion from my land, my home”, Mariam said, “This is my village, my village that once stood filled with life, where I took my first steps... now it’s gone..”

It is worth mentioning that, similar to thousands of unrecognized refugees, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), only recognized my mother as a refugee three years ago.

“This is my country, my home, nothing can compensate that”, she said, “The UNRWA provides me with some medications for chronic conditions, but now it is trying to reduce, or even cut, services due to American and Israel campaign against the UN for recognizing Palestine as a state under occupation”.

My mother’s story is just one of thousands of stories of Palestinians, who once had homes and lands, who had jobs and lives, and were turned into refugees, displaced persons, forgotten…so that Israel can be established in a land that was once filled with life and people, its people, the indigenous Palestinians.

Al- Khairiyya village was small, but full of life, in 1922, around 546 Palestinians lived there, then 914 in 1939, 1940 persons in 1945.

It was completely displaced, and destroyed by the Zionist armed forces in 1948 when Israel was established in the historic land of Palestine, a land with great culture, people and life, but the Zionists wanted it without its natives, the Palestinians, the indigenous.

Israel, the newly born state established on the ruins of Palestine and its people, built two illegal settlements where Al-Khairiyya once stood; Ramat Bin Kaas and Ramat Efal, where immigrants called what once stood as a Palestinian village, home. The first settlement was built in 1952, and the second in 1969.

Now, anyone who visits that area, as well as any part of historic Palestine, mainly sees Jewish neighborhoods, cities, and does not have a clue about what happened here, what happened to the native indigenous Palestinians, their hundreds of villages and towns.

My mother started suffering from several chronic conditions when I was shot and nearly killed by undercover soldiers of the Israeli military in 1991.

That day left me paralyzed for life, broken ribs, broken jaw, and with at least one-third of my right lung removed after it was riddled with bullets.

I was 18, fully healthy, when an undercover soldier filled with hatred shot me five times [those were only the counted bullets found in my chest not the ones that went through], in my chest and back, and proceeded to kick me breaking four of my ribs.

He was a coldblooded murderer who became so angry when I refused to die, and shouted at me, “after all what we did, and you are still alive?!”.

Nevertheless, I lived to tell my story, to tell the story of my mother, to tell the stories of millions of Palestinians subject to Israeli crimes, massacres, constant harassment, displacement and fear.

They can try to change history, they can try to fake and come up with stories, but they cannot uproot the spirit of the Palestinian people, the spirit of Palestine, its Muslim and Christian indigenous population.

We are Palestine, and they will never be able to wipe that out.

To my mother and father, to my brothers, I love you from all of my heart, you are my family that stood by me and gave me every reason to fight for my own life, to live and tell the truth, to expose the crimes of the occupation. You are the ones who continue to be there for me.

To my Palestinian people, remain steadfast, remain united, unity is power, peace in the land of peace, must prevail, and will only prevail once justice is achieved, and stolen rights are retrieved.

Today, its ruins lie in Jerusalem's western suburbs, overshadowed by the highways and skyscrapers far above.

In the years following the Nakba, or "Catastrophe," that led to the expulsion of 750,000 Palestinians from their homes in what became Israel, the majority of the more than 400 depopulated villages were destroyed.

This destruction was part of a wider policy of preventing the return of any Palestinian refugees, even those displaced within the borders of the new state.

Lifta is unique in that it is one of the few Palestinian villages that was not completely demolished after its inhabitants fled.

The village remained empty, a testament to its former residents' disappearance, even as Israeli neighborhoods slowly encircled it.

Lifta is one of the few Palestinian villages that remained standing in the area of West Jerusalem after 1948.

Tens of thousands of West Jerusalem Palestinians were expelled or fled in that year, becoming refugees overnight as Israel refused to accept their right to return to their homes and villages.

The village is surprisingly visible, right below several neighborhoods and major roads. It is visited by the occasional Israeli or tourist come to bathe in the village spring, and campers often spend the night in the abandoned homes.

At other times, Palestinian refugees originally from Lifta come through to commemorate the life of a village abruptly ended.

The village's 2,550 inhabitants fled their homes in the months leading up to the establishment of the State of Israel amidst a campaign of terror waged by Zionist militias.

In December 1947, long before war had been declared, the Stern Gang attacked the local coffee shop, killing six. The purpose of such random attacks on Palestinian civilians was to terrorize them until they fled, while at the same time avoiding wholesale slaughter.

This strategy achieved the goal of ethnic cleansing while still allowing many to claim that Palestinians had left of their own free will.

In the following weeks, Zionist militias struck again, besieging the town. Residents who had not fled already were loaded into trucks and summarily dropped off near the Old City in Jerusalem after militias conquered the village.

Following their victory, Zionist militia members vandalized individual houses in order to make them unlivable, and residents were forbidden from returning.

The village was thus depopulated months before the May 1948 declaration of the State of Israel and the war that followed.

Although many buildings were destroyed, a large number of houses as well as the mosque and the social club of the village remain. The alleyways of Lifta's small Old City and the once-luxurious homes of local elites also remain standing.

The refugees of Lifta today number 18,165, spread mostly between the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

They have been prevented from moving back by Israeli authorities, although a few Jewish families have moved into some of the buildings closer to the road.

Several plans have emerged over the years to redevelop the area. The most recent was proposed by the Israeli Land Administration, which sought to build a hotel and 212 luxury units amidst the ruins. Due to a campaign by activists to prevent the move, the plans never passed.